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"…A Different World…" – Captain Philips on BLU RAY
It’s April 2009 and Captain Richard Philips and his crew of
20 Americans are travelling on their Cargo Ship MAERSK ALABAMA out of Norfolk,
VA to Mombasa via Cape Horn. This passage for the 'truck drivers of the ocean'
(as he calls them) will see his container-crammed behemoth pass alongside the
notorious Somalia coastline where no less than 6 hostage situations have taken
place in the past 2 months alone.
On sophisticated radars in the elevated Control Cabin – two
unidentified small power-driven boats are approaching at suspicious speed in
broad daylight and not answering radio hails. The Alabama follows routine
avoidance techniques – increases speed, turns so they leave a wake the smaller
boats can’t handle, radio in what’s happening to the US Coast Guard, turn on
the water canons… But these are determined criminals who get alongside with a
ladder... And so it begins…
Filmed in Malta and actually using the Alabama’s sister ship
MAERSK ALEXANDER - Director Paul Greengrass uses every nook and cranny of his
real steel and paint canvas to get to you. He then hires four unknown Somalia
actors to be his terrorists (they have stories to tell he says) who are simply
sensational in their parts – going for it with a sweaty gusto that would make
many trained actors very nervous indeed (Barkhad Abdi as the Leader took the
BAFTA). Throw into this captive/hostage emotional cauldron a Director who lives
to pump up the tension to unbearable levels - a huge array of truly great lead
and support actors - and you’re on a tummy-rumbling cinematic winner.
"Captain Philips" is a superlative stuff – a
thriller with brains – the sort of flick they don’t seem to be able to make any
more these days. But special mention must be made of TOM HANKS - who in the
last ten minutes (when he’s rescued and slowly begins to break down) – puts in
a performance that will make your jaw drop open - and realize why he was
nominated for an Oscar. He is simply magnificent throughout and filming for 12
weeks in all manner of swells and seasick situations – cannot have been an easy
shoot. Yet I’d say with Charlie Wilson’s War, Castaway, Cloud Atlas and this
under his belt – he’s fast approaching that rarefied club of the best actors in
the entire world. I also like the way the movie goes into the Somalia political
backstory – and it’s not sentimental about any of it – just desperate people
pushed to desperate measures…
The BLU RAY picture quality varies from fabulous to adequate
– which as any fan of Paul Greengrass movies will know is a major step up. I
say this because his style is fast and furious and he goes for the moment and
the truth rather than the pretty frame. His film “Green Zone” is notorious as
one of the worst prints anywhere on BLU RAY (shot at night in a real-time
documentary style). But this time efforts have been made to get a picture that
looks great – even on the enclosed decks and in the cabins of the huge ship.
Once the movie moves away from that to the small yellow boot of plastic that
they keep Philips hostage on – it all gets murkier – particularly as it’s
mostly shot at night. But this of course rackets up the tension – so you’re enjoying
the movie too much to notice the occasional swarm of grain and fuzziness.
Captain Philips is a major production and out in the open sea in daylight – it
looks BLU RAY gorgeous. Just don’t expect state of the art all of the time.
The Four Audio channels are English, Italian and Spanish 5.1
DTS-HD Master Audio – and English Audio Descriptive Track 5.1 Dolby Digital.
Subtitles are English, English SDH, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Italian, Norwegian,
Spanish and Swedish.
The two substantial extras are Commentary with Director PAUL
GREENGRASS and "Capturing Captain Philips". The 2nd is in several
parts and filmed in HD but it will allow you to play all and is nearly an hour
long. It features contributions from almost all of the actors, Greengrass, Greg
Goodman (Executive Producer), Michael Bronner (Co Producer), the real Captain
Richard Philips and his wife Andrea (a conversation they have titles this
review), news footage of the hostage crisis at the time, Director of
Photography and Principal Cameraman Barry Ackroyd. It’s fantastically detailed
and adds a great deal to the viewing.
"Captain Philips" is world-class cinema – telling
you a story you probably haven’t heard – doing it with skill and commitment –
and featuring actors who can thrill and surprise no matter how well you think
you know them.
Take this container load of salty dogs hostage in your
home…and real soon.
